The Best Day EVER

cool guitar we saw at the festival :D

our new friends!



haha one of the best photos i've taken...please look at the guys in the background (not to mention the clothing in general)
our breakfast EVERYDAY ha
June 5th, Day 2:Day 2:

After such a long, glorious nap, aided by me turning off my phone alarm and the failure of the nightstand alarm to go off, we awoke from a hibernation-type slumber. With extra saved money and energy, we happily headed down for breakfast. I hoped that the meal rotated with different food, but we were greeted with the same exact meal minus a NEW soup (tomato). After eating our salad, skyping a person or two, and getting ready, our second day begun!

Ducking into 7 eleven, for the second day in a row, we had our usual waffle ice cream treat. Tradition? We shall see how this goes. I blame Tietz. Next, we made our way to the festival-like set up (after arguing about directions for 20 minutes of breakfast and realizing we were talking about the same streets) from the day before and hoped it was something interesting and fun. We excitedly hurried to the tents when we saw and heard people. What we found was home! The festival, which is probably the closest I will get to Bonnaroo this summer, was an outdoors clothing and equipment fair. Mountain Hardwear tents and other companies were set up everywhere at this park. It got even better when I focused on the people surrounding me. Hippies up the wazoo! Where were all these Japanese hippies before? I have no idea. But with colorful patterned clothing, skirts, hats, and scarfs, everyone sat by their immaculately designed tents while eating, talking, and playing guitar. I was so happy I think I was almost brought to tears. Familiar music played over the intercom stage and we walked around to each tent wishing we had more money to spend. Japanese outdoor clothing is the most interesting and colorful items you have ever seen. Backpacks that were neon green, pink and blue, and shoes that were equally as colorful filled every sale tent. Trying to NOT look like kids in a candy shop, we quickly jumped in a 30-person tent and ran around, played with steel drums, took pictures by the stage, and asked if we could cut some wood with an axe and played a Frisbee game. Everyone seemed to not mind our presence, maybe because I was wearing a hippie type skirt, and for playing the Frisbee game we got a watertight bag (camo) and a solar power key chain light!! We decided to eat a burger at the stand, but soon realized that an “Old Fashioned Burger” was still a mystery to us. I think it was pork, but both of us are really unsure. Realizing that out of all the places in Japan, we happened to come across this Randonee Picnic, I felt so unbelievable happy and lucky! We looked at the schedule and deciphered that there would be music tonight, so after deciding to come back we headed back up onto the street area. Stopping at Starbucks, I had the best smoothie-type drink everrrr = mango passion tea. Back at the hotel, we hung out for an hour or two before dinner, and had one thing on our mind: getting dumplings at dinner some how. Having this already be the BEST DAY EVER, we added to the amazement with our choice for dinner. Walking into some random, cute small Japanese restaurant right down the street from our hotel, we had no idea what to expect. This cute Japanese man helped us figure the menu out, and we decided to split dumplings (6) and vegetable fried rice. Like most of these types of restaurants, you can see them cook everything, which I find so awesome. Our food arrived and with the first bite, Bean and I looked at one another in pure bliss. By far the best meal we’ve had so far. So much so that we even got one more order of dumplings. Also, while sitting there I watched him make other dishes for customers and every single one looked more and more amazing…I think this could be a new favorite. With stomachs fully satisfied we headed to the park once more to listen to music with our hippie friends. Earlier that day we had made these keychain rope things with some Japanese guys and so first we said hi to them and then made our way down into the grass with our blanket to listen to the music. Although we couldn’t understand the words, the guitar playing and voices were amazing and we kept agreeing that this was the best find yet. In between music sets, dancing hippies, and occasional drunk people (who had obviously been there all day long drinking from the bar set up), we decided to get one drink and thought we ordered a rum-mixed fruit cocktail. The cocktail, however, was a cup half full with ice and some clear type liquid, which we couldn’t decide was just the fruit drink because the taste of rum was significantly lacking. But, oh well. Back on the lawn we listened to music, clapped our hands, and people watched till the music ended and people began to leave. Unsure of where to go next, we walked around trying to get enough courage to ask people where to go. We asked a Canadian where to go and got a few suggestions, but ended up coming back and having a fairly chill night and one episode of Grey's Anatomy ha. Best hippy day ever DONE!